Gotherington Primary School

The Lawns, Gotherington, Cheltenham, GL52 9QT

Governance  »  Governance at Gotherington

ACADEMY GOVERNANCE
Since the conversion to Academy Status in August 2011, Gotherington Primary School is governed as an Academy Trust. The Governing Body has a strategic role. With the Head Teacher, governors set the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school and decide the improvement priorities. They provide a balance of support and challenge to school leaders and monitor and evaluate the work of the school, ensuring financial probity at all times.

The School has a Governing body comprised of a Chairman of the Governing Body, Head Teacher, 3 Parent Governors, 2 Co-opted Governors and a Staff Governor. They also act as Trustees and are Members of Gotherington Academy Trust.

GOVERNING BODY ORGANISATION
The Chair of the Governing Body is Mr M Mintram.
The Vice Chair of the Governing Body are Mrs S Lawrance.
The School also has 3 Committees and they are as follows:
Finance (Chair: Mrs. S. Lawrance)
Health and Safety 
Standards (Chair: Mrs. S.Parker)
 
 
Mike Mintram, Chair of Governors (interim responsibility for Safeguarding)
 



Sally Lawrance (Parent Governor Chair of Finance)


Jan Morrow (Co-Opted Governor)


 Judith Peters (co-Opted Governor)


Sandy Parker (Co-opted Governor - Chair of Standards)



Sarah Maclay (Parent Governor)



Mark Longland (Parent Governor)

Mrs Anna Newman is the Clerk to Governors/Company Secretary

WHAT ARE GOVERNORS EXPECTED TO DO?
The Board of Governors have statutory duties, which are:
  • To ensure delivery of the National Curriculum. The Board of Governors are involved in the monitoring of the curriculum, overseen by the Curriculum Committee.
  • To oversee the annual budget. Through the Finance Committee the Board of Governors controls and monitors the expenditure of the school. Day to day decisions are delegated to the Head Teacher and his Senior Management Team.
  • To be kept informed on all aspects of the day-to-day running and organisation of the school.
  • To take decisions on the appropriate levels of staff and to make appointments, where necessary, via the Staffing Committee.
  • To inspect the condition and repair of the school premises.
  • To determine the use of the premises out of school hours.

WHAT DO I DO IF I WANT TO RAISE A COMPLAINT?
Raising Concerns and Resolving Complaints
Legal Context
The Education Act 2002 states thatschools must have a “general” procedure for dealing with complaints that are not covered by other statutory procedures including admissions, exclusion from school, SEN, religious education and collective worship. Section 29 of the 2002 Act requires governing bodies to:
·Establish and to publicise procedures for dealing with all complaints relating to the school or to provision of facilities or services.
·Have regard to any relevant guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State.
 
The Schools White Paper 2010
In 2009 The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act extended Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) power to consider parent and pupil complaints about state schools. The Importance of Teaching states: “Schools are best placed to address parents' concerns – and in almost every case, teachers and head teachers can resolve concerns and issues quickly and easily."
Sometimes parents and schools have issues that cannot be resolved locally, and so we will make sure that parents have a route to complain in the most cost effective way, repealing the 2009 legislation.
 
Complaints are extremely rare at Gotherington. We have an open culture. Staff are nearly always available – it’s easy to have a quick chat with teachers or the headteacher so most concerns or complaints are dealt with quickly. However, from time to time parents, and others connected with the school, will become aware of matters that cause them concern. To encourage resolution of such situations the Governing Body has adopted a “School Complaints Procedure”.  The procedure is devised with the intention that it will:
• usually be possible to resolve issues by informal means.
• be simple to use and understand.
• be non-adversarial.
• provide confidentiality.
• allow problems to be handled swiftly through the correct procedure.
• address all the points at issue.
• inform future practice so that the problem is unlikely to recur.
 
Full details of the procedure may be obtained from the 'Polices Section' of our website, the School Office or from the Clerk to the Governing Body.
 

Gotherington Primary School Governor responsibilities 

Title

Chairman

Vice-Chairman

Pupil premium governor

Responsible officer

Safeguarding lead governor

Safeguarding governor

SEN governor

Training governor


Initials

MM

SL

ML

ML

MM

MM

ML

SP

 

Committees:

Finance

Health and safety

Standards

Personnel (meets as required)

 

SL (Chairman),KCL MM, JM & TP

Vacancy (Chairman), KCL, ML, Vacancy

SP (Chairman), KCL, ML, JP

Vacacy (Chairman) KCL, MM, ML

 

Panels:

Pay Panel

Head Teacher Performance Management

Other Panels:

Complaints

Pay appeals

SEN

Pupil Behaviour

 

 

SP (Chairman), KCL, SL, JP

Vacancy (Chairman),SP, MM, JP



Governors to be called upon as  required

Vacancy

Vacancy, SP

JP

 

 


 
 

GOVERNING BODY ATTENDANCE ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-20

Full Governing Body - Attendance Details (2017-18)

Name of Governor

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

23.09.19

FGB

09.12.19

Data Review

09.12.19

FGB

10.02.20

FGM

10.02.20

AGM

30.03.20

FGB

18.05.20

FGM

 

FGM

FGM

Mr M Mintram.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

      

100

Mrs K Langley

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

      

100

Mrs K Baynes

Yes

Yes

Yes

End of office

 

             100

Mr P Price Thomas

Yes

Yes

Yes

End of office

      

 

       100

Mrs S Parker.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

           100

Mrs S Lawrance

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

  

 

       100

Mrs J Morrow

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

  

 

      90

Mrs J Price

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

  

 

       80

Miss H Kent

n/a

n/a

n/a

Yes

No

Yes

           100

Mr M Longland.

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

            70

Mrs K Letzer.

No

No

No

End of office

                 0

Mrs S Napper

No

No

No

End of office

                  0

Mrs T Poole.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

          100














GOVERNING BODY ATTENDANCE ACADEMIC YEAR 2017-18

Full Governing Body - Attendance Details (2017-18)

Name of Governor

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

25.09.17

FGB

06.11.17

Data Review

20.11.17

FGB

22.01.18

FGM

22.01.18

AGM

19.03.18

FGB

14.5.18

FGM

13.6.18

FGM (EX)

 

19.6.18

FGM (EX)

Mrs J McWattie.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100%

Mr B Jordan.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

89%

Mrs A Woolston.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

78%

Mr S Harries.

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

78%

Mrs S Parker.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100%

Mrs C Yeates.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

67%

Ms S Napper.

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

11%

Mr P Price Thomas.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

89%

Mrs K Baynes.

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

89%

Mr M Longland.

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

78%

Mrs K Letzer.

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

89%

Revd.R Reakes.

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

44%

Mrs T Poole.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100%

 

Standards Committee Meetings - Attendance Details (2017-2018)

 

Name of Committee Member

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

13.11.17

18.1.18

26.2.18

21.5.18

18.6.18

 

 

Mrs S Parker. (Chair)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

 

 

80%

Mr B Jordan.

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

 

 

60%

Mrs C Yeates.

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

50%

Mr P Price-Thomas.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

100%

Revd. R Reakes.

Yes

Moved to Finance 

-

-

-

 

 

100%

Mrs A Woolston.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

100%

 

Finance Committee Meetings - Attendance Details (2017-2018)

 

Name of Committee
Member

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

18.10.17

 

10.11.17

 

14.11.17

Auditors Meeting

12.01.18

23.2.18

 

27.4.18

 

29.6.18

 

11.7.18

Mr S Harries. (Chair)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

87.5%

Mr B Jordan.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

75%

Mrs J McWattie.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

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